The honor of Zuko
by fatesheart
Summary: Takes place after the winter solstice where Zhao captures the Gaang and Zuko. Zutara pairing eventually. This is my first story so be gentle. I suck at titles so if anyone can come up with a better one let me know.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't supposed to be like this. His return to the palace was supposed to be glorious and honorable. He was supposed to stroll into the capital with his head held high. The people bowing in the streets, marveling at the sight of their Prince and his prisoner, the Avatar, defeated and chained behind him.

Instead, he was chained in between the loud mouth water tribe boy, and the waterbending peasant. The Avatar chained and suspended across from their cell, the Prince's eyes never leaving his unconscious form.

"I hope you're happy" said the girl, interrupting the tense silence. "The world's last hope is captured and will probably be killed." Her voice cracked slightly on the last word. "The world is doomed." She sat staring for a moment. "But as long as your happy." She said, voice dripping with venom.

"Maybe you haven't noticed but I'm stuck in here just the same as you!" Said the older boy tensely. The girl's lips pursed together as if she wanted to say something but thought better of it. "They aren't going to kill him." The prince said, his gaze never leaving the bald monk. The girl looked over to him, wide eyed and filled with hope. "If they kill him the search will start all over again. Ozai wouldn't want to risk him being reborn." The girl sighed softly next to him, relieved for her friend's safety. "And I didn't want this." He said softly. This time both the girl and her brother looked at him shocked. Zuko wasn't sure why, but the way the girl was looking at him made him want to tell her everything. It was hard to resist. He wanted to tell her he didn't like this war, he never had. It was stupid and pointless, more soldiers dying every day. But instead he told her, "The Avatar was suppose to return in my custody!" he could of sworn he saw disappointment in her eyes. He didn't have time to look into it; the door to the brig was just swung open violently. The teens jumped at the sudden noise.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you right?" asked Zhao smugly as he strolled into little cell. The Prince only glared at the older man as they got to their feet. "You're a failure, nothing but a dishonored prince, unwanted by his nation, his people, and his family." The man said with a sneer. Zuko's gaze shifted to the cold hard floor in defeat. "And when we get to the Fire Nation you will finally be put into your place and away from the world, so you can no longer embarrass the Royal family or your country. Your friends however, won't be treated so kindly." His eyes trailed down the water bender's body. "What do you think prince Zuko," he asked as he eyed the girl hungrily, "Should I let the crew have some fun with her before I sell her." If looks could kill Zhao would be dead 1000 times over from the looks the water siblings were giving him. Zuko respected them in that moment even chained and defeated as they were the still refused to give in to the man towering above them with an enraged look on his face. He stalked closer to trio chained together. "How dare you look at me that way, I'll teach you your place yet." As he reached toward the girl Zuko swung his foot out to trip the Commander. At the same time Sokka fell on his face, Zhao fell on his. Zuko paid no mind to the water tribe boy as he tried to regain his composure, only watched the man at his feet closely. He vaguely heard him say "watch it! We're chained together you know!"

"It looks as though you've found your place rather easily Zhao, on your knees bowing to your Prince." Zhao snarled from his place on the floor and quickly right himself. He stood toe to toe with ex-Prince.

"You're lucky Prince Zuko," He spat out the title "if you weren't worth double the price alive than dead." He trailed off, letting the sentence speak for its self. "However," He said thoughtfully, and quickly backhanded the shorter boy sending him to the cold floor, the water tribe siblings tumbling after him. "No one ever said you had to be in perfect health when we get there." He kicked him once in the ribs for good measure and stalked out of the cell. Zuko growled at his departing back.

It was some time later before either one of the teens spoke. Katara spent most of her time shifting her gaze between each of the boys, to around the room looking for a kind of hint on how to get out. Sighing she gave up for the time being. _'What's the point? We failed. Aang wasn't able to talk to Roku, now we're all captured and on our way to the Fire Nation.'_ She thought gravely. She rubbed her wrists around her chains and watched Sokka glare furiously around the room, calculating their options for escape. Occasionally he would exclaim loudly and Katara could feel her heart leap with hope, but he would dismiss the plan just as quickly and she felt herself sag a little farther against the wall.

Zuko on the other hand remained completely still, his gaze on his hands held stiffly in his lap. Katara didn't know much about the Firebending Prince, but it seemed odd he was so quiet and still. It bothered her how content he seemed. They were locked up, but he seemed at perfect ease._ 'This is the boy who chased us half way around the world! He tried to capture Aang countless times, attacked her village and the Island of Kyoshi!' _The anger she felt towards him spread through her until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Why do you want to capture Aang?" Her voice filled with anger and hint of sincere curiosity. She was aware of the surprise on her brother's face and she was certain she saw the same on Zuko's, but she ignored them both and held the princes gaze, waiting. He opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off. "I know, you need him to restore your honor, I know that already. What I mean is why does it need restored in the first place?" The boy's jaw tensed and he looked away, gaze lingering on the floor again. She continued to watch him curiously as he mulled the question over; certain he was going to simply ignore her. Sokka, feigning indifference, and continued to look around the room, pretending to study their prison, but Katara knew he was listening intently for Zuko's answer.

She saw the scarred boy glance at her as well as he could from his bad eye. Tensing, he quickly looked away. She had just decided he needed a little push when he raised his hand to the rough skin surrounding his eye. "Does it have something to do with that?" she pried, suddenly feeling sorry for the older boy.

Zuko quickly returned his hand to his lap, scolding himself for his lack of discipline. He stole a glance at the blue eyed girl and once again he was overcome with the need to tell her everything. He opened his mouth to give her an answer but no sound would come out. Dejected, he clenched his jaw and returned his gaze to his cuffed hands in his lap. It was easier to deny her when he didn't have to look at her. He silently made a list of all the reasons not to tell her. _'She's a peasant, a water tribe present at that. She's friends with the only being who can restore my honor. If I capture him it will hurt her.' _He shook his head at that last though. _'So what if it hurts her!'_

"Fine!" The girl snapped, as the prince shook his head, and began to sulk next to the silent prince. A war waged inside the firebender. '_Should I tell them?'_ he asked himself.

"I spoke out of turn." He said finally, still refusing to look at her. The girl's ears perked up but she refused to look at him. Her brother however looked at him wide eyed. _'Why can't I deny her?' _ He thought, ignoring the boy's gaze.

"You have to capture the Avatar just because you spoke out of turn?" he said confused.

"No." was all the prince had to say.

"Then why?" demanded the blue eyed girl, suddenly intrigued again. It was once again hard to resist her eyes. Zuko sighed _'They're just going to keep asking unless I tell them.' _He thought to himself, and then said:

"I spoke out against one of the generals. My father didn't like that so much." He said uncomfortably. "So I was challenged to an Agni Kai, a fire bending duel. I accepted. I was so sure I could beat him."

"You lost?" exclaimed the boy next to him.

"It wasn't him." Zuko said simply. "I spoke out against the general, but by doing so I disrespected the Fire Lord."

"Your father." The waterbender said sympathetically. Zuko nodded and remained silent. "Well?" asked the girl when it seemed the boy wouldn't continue.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this!" snapped the boy suddenly, a spark of his old self rising to the surface

"Because we're chained together in the brig of a ship that's headed for the Fire Nation where all but one of us will probably die," Supplied the girl's brother. Zuko sighed and succumb to the boy's logic and continued.

"It was the Fire lord I disrespected; therefore it was the fire lord I had to fight. I was thirteen and in no way capable of fighting my Father. So I fell to my knees and begged for mercy. He wanted me to fight for my honor but I refused. He told me I needed to learn respect and suffering was to be my teacher." He heard the girl gasp sympathetically. "I don't need your sympathy." He said gruffly before any of them could say anything. "I was dishonored and banished; the only way I can go home is with the Avatar in chains."Neither of the water tribe siblings knew what to say and Zuko didn't offer any more information, and so they remained silent, even long after dark had fallen and they could no longer see. The avatar still hung silently on the wall opposite them, only now do they realize they've been drugging him to keep him that way. The girl lay sleeping against the wall, as far away from the banished prince as her chains would allow. Her brother still lay awake racking his brain for an escape plan. Zuko finally grew bored and began to snap his fingers, summoning fire to his finger tips with each crack of his fingers, allowing the fire to linger long enough to light the room up with a flash before disappearing and casting the room back into darkness.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Said the boy next to him. "You're giving me a headache." Zuko snapped his fingers once more but this time willed the fire to stay and grow bright enough to keep the room lit. He moved the flame to his palm and began to meditate the best he could. It wasn't long before the boy loudly exclaimed.

"That's it!" he shouted, waking his sister and startling the prince. "I know how we're going to get out of here." He told them excitedly.

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That's the end of chapter one I'll post the next chapter ASAP. Thanks for the reviews guys. Be patient I'll explain everything soon.

Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender and its characters don't belong to me no matter how much I wish otherwise they will always be the property of Mike and Bryan


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note

Sorry for the delay guys. With phud's help, I edited the first chapter, added more, fixed spelling etc. I also realized that I called Zhao an admiral but at this point in the story line he's still a commander so I fixed that as well; if I missed anything feel free to tell me. Thanks so much for your support guys it means a lot to me.

And without further ado: The second chapter.

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Commander Zhao fumed on his way up to the command deck. His thoughts consumed of ways to punish the boy in chains who aspires for his throne. '_That traitor will never regain his throne'_ he celebrated silently. _'He will be locked away, and I will stand as the Fire Lord's right hand man.' _By the time he reached his destination he was in high spirits.

"Set a course for the Fire Nation Capital Captain, we're going home." He said almost gleefully.

"Right away sir," Replied the helmsmen.

"Today is a good day gentlemen." Zhao continued with his speech. " We have the Avatar in our custody and put an end to his plans to contact his past lives. The traitor prince is also in our grasps and so are the Avatar's sidekicks. The Fire Lord will be very pleased."

"Speaking of the Avatar sir, what would you like to do with him?" asked the lieutenant.

"Give him a sleeping draught it won't do to have him trying to escape." The lieutenant saluted and set out to complete the task assigned to him.

"Nothing can ruin this day." said Zhao once more.

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"Are you sure this plan will work Sokka?" asked Katara

"Of course it will." answered the self- confident boy. "All we have to do is get the guards attention, get him to unlock the door, knock him out, and steal his keys."

"I don't know" Said the doubtful girl. "That gets us out of here, but there's still a lot that could happen. Like what do we do when we get up to the deck? "

"And there's Zhao to worry about." Zuko included.

"And we also have to keep in mind that we'll have to carry Aang."

"Okay, okay I get it. There are a lot of holes to fill but it's a start." Sokka sighed.

"Oh and Zhao doesn't allow his guards to carry keys to handcuffs, he doesn't trust them to not let out prisoners.

"Great you couldn't tell us that before?" Sokka said irritated. "That may have been nice to know!"

"I never said your plan wouldn't work, we'll just have to find another way to get the handcuffs off" Snapped Zuko.

"And what do you suggest we do wise guy?"

"Well we need to get Zhao out of the way, and stop them from giving the sleeping draught to the avatar."

"His name is Aang." Katara said irritably. But the Prince ignored her.

"I can challenge Zhao to an Agni Kai, he won't turn me down. That'll ensure most of the crew will be watching. Zhao would want as many people as possible to witness him humiliating me. With any luck the guard administering the draught to the avatar will be there as well, if not, the two of you can take him out."

"And how will we get the chains off if the guards don't carry keys?" asked Sokka.

"The guard will have a key to the cell door just knock the guard out, hide him somewhere, take his key and lock yourselves back in here, keeping the key. And then wait until I get back."

"And how do we know we can trust you? This could be one of your plans to give Aang to the Fire Lord yourself" Said Sokka suspiciously.

"Because whether I defeat Zhao or not, I'm still coming back here, but at least we'll have a key."

"And if a guard doesn't come while you're gone? What do we do then?" asked the waterbender.

"Then we knock out the guard who escorts me back here and take his key. Either way the cell will have to open at some point in time."

"And how does locking ourselves up do us any good?" the girl asked. Zuko sighed, exasperated at the girls ignorance.

"If we're still in our cells when a guard goes missing we won't be blamed for it, and we can escape at nightfall with the key we have hidden." Zuko explained.

"That's a great plan, angry jerk," said Sokka "but how are we going to get off the ship?"

"Where's your bison?"

"We don't know. The last time we saw him was back on the island."

"Great so we have an escape plan but no means of actually escaping" Said the aggravated prince.

"What about your ship?" asked Katara. Zuko looked up thoughtfully.

"If my uncle knows I've been captured he'd be trailing the ship." He said "If he is following us this could work."

"But how do we know if he is following us?" the girl asked skeptically.

"It's a chance we may have to take if we ever want out of here" Answered her brother. Zuko nodded his agreement.

"I'll get the guards attention in the morning, before they come for the avatar" Said the prince.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry the long delay guys! I got really busy at work for a while and by the time i got back to my story i had forgotten where i wanted to go with it. I'm not sure if the direction I'm going in now was the direction i was going in originally but I'm continuing it none the less ^-^ yays! So here's chapter 3...even if it is kinda short...ENJOY!

disclaimer I own NOTHING! (though i wish i did ^-^)

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"General, there's no sign of Prince Zuko, or the Avatar. There were no bodies found in the wreckage either sir, I think its safe to say all the fire sages got out alive."

"Thank you Captain." replied the old general.

"Sir!" came a voice from farther away, "There's something over here I think you should see!" Iroh followed the voice to one of the Lt. on the other side of a hill. Behind him was a sight he never thought he'd see up close. The Avatar's bison's. The beast was pinned under a beam from the collapsed building. It looked as though it was only sleeping, but the screeching from the flying lemur told the old fire bender otherwise.

"It appears to be unconscious sir." said the Lt. as the general arrived at the scene. "But its alive and as far as I can tell unharmed." Iroh nodded and turned to the captain.

"Gather the men, we should try to help the poor creature."  
"Yes sir!" the captain said before running of to do as told. Iroh turned back to the beast and walked cautiously up to it.

"If we can free him he should lead us to the Avatar, and my nephew." Iroh told the remaining Lt. "Though i have a faint idea where they might be."

"Sir?" the Lt. asked.

"I believe Commander Zhao has them in custody. And if I'm right, we already know where they're headed."

"The Capitol?" asked the young Lt. Iroh nodded.

"And my brother."

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Sorry guys I know that's EXTREMELY short but I'm working on the fourth chapter right now. I debated on combining the two just so this one would be longer, but I feel like it would throw the flow of it off a little bit. But don't fret the fourth and possibly fifth chapter will be up right after this one. ^-^


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was barely over the horizon when Zuko began to stir. His attempt to stretch his sore stiff muscles was halted by two water tribe siblings. Both huddled close to the only source of heat in the cold damp cell. A fire bender. The Prince looked down, irritated with the unwanted close contact with the two siblings. His brow twitched as he observed drool dripping from the younger boys mouth, right onto the fire benders shoulder. He moved his other arm to dislodge the younger boy, when his sister made her cuddling known. The water bender shifted her position from the prince's shoulder to his lap. Zuko was glad that neither of the siblings were awake at that moment, as he felt his face begin to redden. The girl mumbled something in her sleep and the Prince was pulled from his embarrassment to look at her peaceful expression, afraid he had woken her. But she remained lost in the world of dreams.

'She looked so...' the prince thought to himself, but didn't know how to complete it. He had never really interacted with people of the opposite gender before. Unless you wanted to count his sister and her friends, his mother and their mothers where really the only females he had ever met, much less talked to for any length of time. Even then most of what his sister said was a lie and her friends didn't really talk to him much. Without any conscious thought on his part his hand slowly decided to make its way to the sleeping girls face, where a stray piece of hair had fallen out of place. It looked so very soft and inviting. The Prince quickly found himself overcome with a fierce desire to tuck it behind her ear, to touch her. He was so close to her caramel skin when...

SNORE!

Her brother snorted right in his ear. For the second time in ten minutes, the prince found his face heating up in embarrassment. As the water tribe boy snored yet again in his ear, the older boy had had enough. He gently pushed the boy off his shoulder and leaned him against the wall instead, pushing him as far from himself as he could. Turning back to the girl he once again had the desire to touch her but he was able to control himself this time.

'What is she doing to me?' he asked himself. 'I don't even know her and yet here I am wanting to tell her everything that has ever happened to me without even thinking twice about it. I must be going soft. I don't even want to wake her up.' He scowled, angry at the turn his thoughts had taken. 'How could I be so weak? Yesterday was the first I've every talked to her where I wasn't threatening her or someone close to her.' With a sigh the Prince ignored the voice in his head, sure that it would just keep going in circles and wasn't going to come to a conclusion any time soon. He focused his attention back to the girl on his lap, glad that she was still asleep. He gently lifted her up and off his lap and leaned her against the wall as well, though not nearly as far away as her brother, the voice in his head goaded. He pushed the voice to the back of his mind and decided to dissect his thoughts later, when they weren't on a ship headed straight for the fire nation.

'As soon as they wake up we'll start the plan.' the voice in his head told him he was pathetic for not wanting to wake up the sleeping girl, but after that it remained silent, allowing the prince to meditate in peace.

The Prince continued meditating until the sun had completly risen over the horizon. His calm controlled breathing the only sound in the dank cell. Even the watertribe boys obnoxious snoring had ceased, as if the presence of the sun itself had control of the boys horrid breathing habits. Now there was only Zuko and his breathing. Calm, serene, tranquil. His thoughts unplauged by the tiny cell, and the ships journey, or its crew. Not even the avatar, who was mere feet from him, troubled him. Nothing. Except a flash of blue. Cerulean eyes refused to relinquish its control of him. He threw his head back in annoyance. No matter how many times he tried those sapphire eyes where always there. The only thing he couldn't rid his mind of. The prince glared down at the girl who held those azure eyes, as if she was doing it on purpose and glaring could somehow get her to stop. His train of thought came to an abrupt halt as he was suddenly SMACKED in the back of the head.  
"What do you think your doing staring at my sister?" came the voice attached to the limb that connected painfully with his skull.  
"Why'd you hit me?" answered the firebender.  
"You were glaring at her!" retorted the younger warrior. Zuko was saved from retaliating as said girl rose from her slumber. She glared harshly at her brother and reached across the firebending prince to smack her brother.

"What was that for?" he whined.

"For waking me up." was all she said before stretching as best she could while still chained. Her brother smartly kept his mouth shut but was still muttering under his breath about 'evil fire benders.'

"What are you staring at?" she asked innocently. The prince blushed as he realized he had been caught staring, he could feel her brothers glare on the back of his neck as well has her curious stare.

"Now that we're all awake we should set the plan in motion." The prince cleverly changed the subject to the task at hand, successfully distracting both siblings. "They should be coming soon for the Avatar. They didn't come at all last night, the sleeping drought should be wearing off soon." both siblings nodded their understanding. All three teens stood and walked as one to the cells bars.

"HEY! ANGRY JERKS! WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU!" yelled the water tribe warrior. The two benders stared at him, the prince shocked at the uncreative, blunt way to call the guard, his sister agitated at his loudness so early in the morning. The boy merely shrugged his shoulders.

"What?" he asked. exasperated sighs were his only answer.


End file.
